At St. Lawrence College in Kingston, Ont., the cabinetry apprenticeship program coordinator Scott Woodall calls their program an “earn while you learn” experience. “Most of the training is done on the job site,” says Woodall. Over the course of approximately three years, apprentices log 7200 hours. For every year of apprenticeship, there is one eight-week session of school which is spaced out in-between work terms.
In places like Alberta which has been experiencing both a boom and a skilled labour shortage, apprenticeship programs are thriving, according to Paul Roberts, program chair of the Woodworking programs at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) in Edmonton. At NAIT they are making considerable changes to their cabinet-making program based on suggestions from their industry advisory committee. The new program, which starts in the fall, is called Professional Development for Journeymen Cabinet Makers. It will be available to students who have gone through the apprenticeship program’s initial training who will then go one day a week to the new classes, says Roberts. The changes the committee recommended place a larger focus on technology and supervision skills, which they believe are currently lacking in the market, says Roberts.
One of the challenges in today’s trade market is the wide variety of shops students face when they enter the workplace. Working at an apprenticeship can help prepare students for by offering real world experience before they enter the workplace, says Mark Paddison, program coordinator of cabinet making and professional woodworking at Humber College in Toronto.